New NH90 aircraft delivered to the Italian Armed Forces

New NH90 aircraft delivered to the Italian Armed Forces

AgustaWestland has announced that a number of new NH90 aircraft have been delivered to the Italian Armed Forces, marking the successful completion of the first year of operations of its new NH90 Final Assembly Line, located at Venice Tessera in Italy. On 16 December 2011 an NH90 was delivered to the Italian Army and an NH90 NFH was delivered to the Italian Navy.

The NH90 Final Assembly Line has completed nine aircraft this year and is set to assemble and deliver up to18 aircraft in 2012. To date 160 NH90s have been ordered by Italy (Army and Navy, 60 and 56 helicopters respectively), the Netherlands (20), Norway (14) and Portugal (10).

According to the company, the Venice Tessera plant will progressively expand to become the NH90 programme hub for all AgustaWestland customers, including the provision of maintenance, spare parts, engineering services, upgrades and modifications as well as future developments of new product configurations.  

The Italian Army has ordered 60 NH90 TTH helicopters which will replace older models currently operated by the service in various utility roles. The Italian Navy has ordered a total of 56 NH90s (46 NFH and 10 TTH units) which will replace old helicopters for a variety of roles including anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare and utility. The NH90 will give the Italian services a major increase in operational capability and mission effectiveness due to its outstanding technology and performance. A total of 21 NH90 helicopters will have been delivered by AgustaWestland to Italian forces by the end of this year.

Ref: Rotorcraft Professional